Group: Labor bill falls short (trying to kill O Steve union Walker style)

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.omaha.com/article/20110412/NEWS01/704129941#group-labor-bill-falls-short

Published Tuesday April 12, 2011

By Paul Hammel
WORLD-HERALD BUREAU

LINCOLN — A conservative think tank headed by Omaha businessman Pete Ricketts has concluded that a legislative proposal to reform the state’s Commission of Industrial Relations falls short of the “significant” and “meaningful” changes needed by taxpayers.

The Platte Institute for Economic Research, in a six-page analysis to be released Tuesday morning, said that a reform measure drafted under the guidance of Omaha Sen. Steve Lathrop is confusing, violates the privacy of private businesses and would not significantly reduce government spending.

“The bill ultimately perpetuates a long-standing public policy that continues to channel authority to manage local budgets away from elected officials toward this unaccountable Commission,” the report concludes.

It called the CIR “an antiquated relic of progressive politics.”

The analysis comes as no surprise. Two years ago, the Omaha-based Platte Institute, in another commentary, called for the abolishment of the CIR, an end to collective bargaining by public employees and continuing the state’s prohibition on strikes by public employees.

The Platte Institute study is sure to stir the pot as the Legislature’s Business and Labor Committee prepares on Wednesday to hold a public hearing on the 64-page proposal, an amendment to Legislative Bill 397.